I can’t believe it, our little man is now officially a teenager! Kyle is a thirteen year old, even though he’s been displaying a teenage attitude for about a year now. Not constant, but every once in a while the attitude has slipped out of his mouth or through his body language. I guess that’s typical growing pains.

Kyle is a great kid, he really is. Yes he has his quarks and Sheldon Cooper (The Big Bang Theory) tendencies, but overall, Kyle is a good person. I’ve really enjoyed watching him grow up and more importantly I really enjoy being an integral part of his life and influence. He is my best bud! We’ve always been a team. Even though he is finding different interests and venturing out on his own with his friends, we are still as thick as thieves, at least for now.

In honor of such a milestone birthday, below are a few key funny moments in Kyle’s life we all remember and love and some are still in effect today. I hope these instances are as bad and as stressful as Kyle’s life will ever get!

Kyle & Gigi for Kyle’s 1st birthday! 7/30/02

As a baby, Kyle was always strong willed. ALWAYS! I would never have it any other way. But his attitude would change in a blink of an eye. My sister called it the 2.2. He would go from happy little baby to upset child in 2.2 seconds. I hate to admit it, but it was kind of funny, especially when we would laugh at him and say 2.2. He didn’t find it humorous in the slightest, not when he was an infant nor later in life.

Kyle was never shy about sharing his feelings or his grievances with us, at any given moment. I remember clearly one day, Kyle got made at me, I’m guessing I was instigating the little package, and he showed me. He walked out on the porch and chucked his beloved bottle over the bannister into the front yard. The snarly look he gave me was way too cute! Me being me, I found complete humor in the situation. Mom witnessing the entire thing, yelled at me to stop picking on the kid. He was adorable, even when angered. At least at that age.

I always did love observing Kyle with his activities. He would spend hours upon hours lining up his matchbox cars. Thanks to my sister he owned hundreds of them (no joke). They always had to be perfectly in line, front to back, front to back, covering the floor or coffee table. He would concentrate so hard, he blocked out the world around him. Did I mention his focus included his tongue sticking out like my Uncle Sonny? I always did find him fascinating, wondering what was going on in his little head.

When Kyle was around two and three years old, and a banana was requested, we had to peel it for him. The banana had to be stripped down all the way. Yes, we had to hand him a naked banana and if it broke, well, that was the end of the world. He would throw a fit and not accept the fruit to eat and demand another. I’m guessing he felt he couldn’t eat a broken banana or it wouldn’t taste the same or something. It was a complete tragedy! Usually I ate the broken pieces, which ticked him off even more. I never gave in on this one. He had to learn not to waste food and he wasn’t going to always get his own way.

For a few short years, Kyle would walk around the house with his Scooby-Doo slippers, which were initially three sizes too big. He loved those things, asking to wear them every waking minute. Surprisingly, he made his way around the house with minimal trip-age. After he outgrew those slippers, wearing them until they were too tight, mom and I decided to take him to the store to get another pair. He picked out ones that looked like a car, even with stuffed wheels on the side. Letting him try them on to ensure we had a proper fit, Kyle’s mind surprised us again. After placing the plush cars to his feet, Kyle stiffened up. He held himself so still and hung onto my arm with all seriousness. Why? He thought the wheels were going to shoot him across the floor like roller skates and he was going to roll away! Mom and I died! We were laughing so hard, we couldn’t help the panicked kid. He had no idea what was so funny. Needless to say, we bought the slippers.

Kyle’s cakeface for his 1st birthday! Pappy was under that hat … He always did love his sweets! 7/30/02

For years, Kyle believed that the sock manufacturers were making uncomfortable socks with a large seam at the toe just to irritate him. He believed he was the center of everyone’s attention, even the sock manufacturer and they were out to make his life miserable! Solution? We learned that if you turn the sock inside out, the bulky seam was on the outside and didn’t really bother his little piggies. Believe it or not, there were plenty of other sock issues, including touching his ankle, and the heel of the sock not matching up EXACTLY with his heel etc. Unfortunately, even though these problems have toned down a notch or two, only because he wears flip flops in the summer, it’s still an argument. He also believes socks and shoes make his whole body sweat and makes him too hot to wear cloths.

Kyle lining up his Legos for the ultimate battle! c. 2013

When Kyle first started to wear walking shoes, getting them on with assistance, he would tell us the shoe didn’t fit if his big toe wasn’t able to be lifted comfortably in the confined space. Yes! He wanted his big toe to stand up in the shoe, all the way! To this day, he won’t properly tie his tennis shoes and his hunting boots are about two sizes too big. Although he is getting better, letting his pap lace up his boots for hunting so he doesn’t trip in the woods. His tennis shoes still hang off of his feet, making it appear that he will walk out of them at any given moment.

While we’re on the topic of cloths, let’s discuss jeans. Yes that basic article of clothing that everyone posses, at least a single pair. Yes, that item that can be dressed up or down and is accepted at most venues. Kyle HATED jeans. From the time he was able to give his own opinion on his wardrobe, first grade or so, till he hit the junior high in seventh grade, Kyle never wore a pair of jeans. EVER! What did he wear? Sweatpants or shorts. Sometimes his sweatpants were the cotton kind and sometimes the shiny pants (which he still wears to this day) For church, he was and still is never ever permitted to wear sweatpants. Clothing of choice? He has to wear dress slacks and in the summer, nice dress shorts. At the time they had to have the elastic waistband. Kidding? Nope! That always about killed him, but we worked through it, kind of. He still hates cloths, and getting dressed for church sometimes poses a problem.

Kyle being held by the Hulk at Legofest 2012 … Kyle’s humor! Yes that’s made entirely out of Legos!

Switching gears a bit, train gears that is, let’s move onto toys. No matter who played Thomas the Tank Engine, as instructed by Kyle, they had to be Diesel. Kyle never did like Diesel, I really don’t know why? I decided early on, this rule did not pertain to me. I wouldn’t have a three year old tell me what I was playing with, which always resulted in little temper tantrum, sometimes a big blow up. He would also dictate how I was to play, which direction to move and what I was doing. Again, nope! Kyle had to learn early on that he didn’t always get his own way and others had the freedom of choice. I reinforced the ideas of compromise and sharing. It was a struggle, but one learned, kind of.

Around two years and up, Kyle LOVED puzzles. By the time he was walking till about three years, he was putting together some thousand piece puzzle sets! Did I mention I hate puzzles? However, I would turn over the pieces so they were facing up and sit with him while he matched piece after piece to create the picture represented on the box. He said, “Loot pappy, I’m puzzle boy!”

One last walk down memory lane. One that we are all grateful he grew out of and did a complete one eighty, reading! I HATE READING!Reading Brings Generations TogetherReading Brings Generations Together…Or Not?Harry Potter Made Me Do It! etc. Kyle started off loving books. He would always drag a book to our lap and have us read and rock him in the rocking chair. LOVE IT! Then, came the time he had to do the reading, which didn’t go over so well. In fact, it pushed him to hate reading, which saddened me beyond imagination. Though, I tried many tactics to change his perception of reading, my sister remembered one method, bribery! Yes, for a very brief stent, we would pay Kyle in cold hard cash to read to us. Judge us if you will, but it worked and the benefits of him reading outweighed the idea of bribery. Of course, I tried may avenues including yelling, grounding, sharing the reading, acting out the story while he read etc. In the end the most effective was reading to Kyle, Harry Potter Chamber of Secrets, with the most gusto and the best British accent I could muster. After that book, Kyle chose on his own to continue reading the rest of the series. I was very proud of him. Since then I kept up his interest in reading by buying him books anytime he needed one, getting them for him with every holiday and special occasion and sometimes reading the same books so the lines of communication were open. Yep, that was a struggle but again one well worth it!

In addition to reading, Kyle still loves to hunt, shoot his .22 and his 243 (his dad would be proud), fish, sled ride and snowboard, build (anything), and he loves his dog Scooby (plus Seven, Avery and Storm a.k.a. Lady Fluffington). Over the years his interest in movies have grown, being a huge fan of The Lord of the Rings (movies and books) the Avengers (all superheros), video games (mostly Minecraft) and now he’s taken an interest in fantasy games such as Summoner Wars, Dungeons and Dragons, and WarMachine.

One of Kyle’s piano lesson songs happen to be Happy Birthday. I thought it be appropriate to record it for all to share on his birthday!